Optical scanners can be used to steer a laser beam or a sensor that defines an imaging system field of view. Optical scanners may be used in materials processing, marking, packaging, optical coherence tomography, laser light shows, laser-based templating, and numerous other applications. The majority of optical scanners are mechanical systems using one of two implementations. A first implementation has two mirrors, each actuated along one rotational axis and positioned orthogonally to the other mirror to achieve a two-dimensional scanning field. A second implementation has a single mirror actuated in two orthogonal axes commonly known as tip-tilt. Both of these implementations, as they are currently available, have a number of non-trivial drawbacks.
The figures depict various embodiments of the present disclosure for purposes of illustration only. Numerous variations, configurations, and other embodiments will be apparent from the following detailed discussion.